When Daniel Burnham, the famous American city planner, came to visit in December 1904, he saw potential for beauty in those very elements of the urbanscape we now associate with filth and floods – the esteros. Burnham likened our esteros to the canals of Venice and this image is repeated in the postcards of the era.
Pre-war tourist guides also played up this romantic image. Many of these listed the esteros and riverside life on the Pasig as requisite sights to see. A good example of this is a chapter from Interesting Manila, a travelogue written by George A. Miller in 1929. The popular book ran through several editions. Miller was also a photographer whose images graced numerous other publications.
A picture’s worth a thousand words, so the saying goes, but his words do help bring back images of our formerly picturesque esteros. Ol’ George justified his literary and photographic effort, saying, "Manila needs a guide book. Underneath her Oriental exterior is a hidden wealth of historical material of the highest human interest. In the very things that make many places famous among sightseers, she is easily the Queen of the Cities of the East…"
On the chapter on "River Life," Miller pronounces to potential visitors that, "Water life gives Manila some claims to the title ‘Oriental Venice’ …There is plenty of material for Venetian scenery …and the traveler has not far to go to find bits of water and landscape that make the soul of the artist stop to gaze and rejoice that he is in Manila."
George goes on to explain that "There are five divisions of river life: the shipping behind the breakwater belongs to the deep sea; the lower Pasig harbors the inter-island merchant marine (the north harbor had to wait until the 1950s to be developed); the Pasig above the Jones Bridge…it is the terminus and general rendezvous of the lake traffic (freight and passenger traffic from south of Manila came from the ports of Laguna de Bay); the large canals and esteros of Quiapo, Binondo, and Tondo float a large burden of provincial freight (and were also a conduit from points north of the city), and the smaller esteros serve as distributors of produce and building material all over the city."
Miller goes on to explain that the esteros were the principal transport network in the Spanish era. He points out that, "Any map of Manila shows a network of these canals that reaches nearly every part of the city. So obvious was the usefulness of these waterways…that they were used for nearly every class of freight, and often passengers were wont to travel about the city in slender bancas propelled by the banquero who was as much part of the household force as the cochero. So much were the esteros used that a Spanish royal decree was passed, and is yet in force, by which no building is allowed within 10 feet of the bank of an estero."
This decree was adopted by succeeding governments and is in effect till today (it has been expanded to 10 meters). Enforcement, as with almost all other laws of this great nation of ours, leaves much to be desired. Depending on which figures, or from which agency or NGO you consult, there are between a quarter to half a million informal settlers on the banks of the esteros and the Pasig River today. Despite press releases, it seems that only a small percentage has been relocated under the present Pasig River Rehab program.
In Miller’s day there were people living, not on the banks, but on the river and esteros themselves. He reported in his guidebook that "Over 15,000 people lived on the cascos and lorchas that plied the waters of the river and its tributaries, all within the city limits. Thousands of children are born, grow, live and die on these floating cargo carriers, and never dream of any other world than that which floats about them and is towed or poled from place to place."
The author waxes lyrical at the end of his chapter. "…There is …much that is picturesque about the Venetian phase of Manila life. The Binondo canal viewed from the San Fernando Bridge is a picture of life and interest. Some striking bits of scenery are found here and there, made up of canal, casco, and native boatman, with some church dome in the background. When the day is done and the evening shadows fall, the sharp outlines soften and one forgets the muddy water, the dirty banks and the wallowing carabao and over it all falls the spell of the Orient and the quaint and curious scenes of the water streets of old Manila."
Miller wrote these lines over 70 years ago. He did mention incidents of flooding but these, because of clearer channels, apparently drained much faster then. The estero and riverbanks were also kept clear and maintained because they were vital to transport and commerce. The Pasig has now been partially rehabilitated but the esteros have deteriorated to veritable sewers.
Today, the image of Venice is not conjured when Manila’s esteros are mentioned. Romance has long taken the last boat out of what was formerly known as the "Pearl of the Orient." Daniel Burnham planned to integrate these esteros into part of an enhanced transport system that included picturesque riverside drives all the way to Fort William McKinley (Fort Bonifacio). These were never built.
Today, Manila’s esteros (and also its roads) suffer from urban arteriosclerosis. They are a symptom of a larger disease that may lead to metropolitan myocardial infarction and the eventual death of the city. Some say the city is already in rigor mortis but many more believe that metropolitan and national authorities are just brain-dead (too much pork barrel).
So enjoy the rainy season, the inundated inanity of our streets and the annual finger pointing of officials playing governmental Weakest Link. I now regret writing this article because I’m sure some of our senators and congressmen, tired of their current shenanigans, are booking flights to Venice, justifying them as "study trips" and leaving us poor citizens to drown in a flood of problems.
May God have mercy on us all.